


For the road ahead

by munchingtin



Category: Batman (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Damian Wayne Loves Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson Tries, Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne are Siblings, Dysfunctional Family, Family Bonding, Family Issues, Gen, Good Older Sibling Dick Grayson, Good Sibling Dick Grayson, On Hiatus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Dick Grayson, Parental Dick Grayson, Past Talia al Ghul/Bruce Wayne, Protective Dick Grayson, other characters to be added - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22338238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/munchingtin/pseuds/munchingtin
Summary: It's been years since Dick had been in Gotham, and his baggage is significantly heavier than when he left.He also did not come back alone.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne
Comments: 2
Kudos: 104





	For the road ahead

Dick was not doing anything in particular. Or, he was avoiding doing anything that had anything to do with the tablet that he was holding. He was stretched out, barely reaching the tv-table with his legs crossed. A cup rested on the side while he stared at the device in his hands. He kept his expression carefully neutral, which he knew would tip Damian off as an indicator that he was stressed beyond belief.

Dick waved at Damian to come inside without so much as looking up and he saw the look in the kid’s eyes change when he finally brought himself to tear his eyes from the screen. Damian held his head high as he opened the window and crawled inside. Dick had left it unlocked for him, and Damian securely locked it after himself.

Damian visibly hesitated but decided to take his mask off anyway. Dick had tried to teach him the importance of eye contact, but it tended to clash with Damian’s need for the mask’s security in unfamiliar places. Damian sat down on the couch angled next to the armchair. Dick still did not look up but the tension in the room made the muscles in his jaw clench up. He tried to relax with mixed results. He looked more at ease, but he was all the more aware of how he was faking it.

Damian kicked off his boots and brought his knees to his chest. He stared at the tv Dick had quickly picked up at some local flea market. It was old and it was a model that launched around the time Dick was growing up. He knew Damian cared little for it, the effort to amuse him with a dramatized narrative of rapid technological growth and feigned technophobia going completely over his head. 

‘How are you holding up in there?’ Dick was looking at him now, gesturing to Damian’s forehead. An easy smile, content and at ease. He made sure to communicate himself as relaxed as possible, considering their predicament, and happy to see Damian, which was always true.

Damian looked away. He shrugged, and Dick felt a sudden lump forming in his throat. The boy hugged his legs closer. ‘Adequately.’

Dick hummed and directed his attention back to his tablet if only because he really wanted to not look at Damian right now. Damian, on the other hand, took the time to force himself to inspect him closely. Dick knew he looked a lot better than he had almost a month before, but that had been an exceptional week for him. He knew that Damian still did not really know how to process what exactly had happened for things to have changed so much, and especially not with how it had happened.

Damian scowled at the furniture for a split second when he shifted. Dick figured the couch was cold to the touch and downright uncomfortable.

'Dami.’ Dick smiled sadly. 'I’m sorry.’ For everything, was left unsaid, but Damian winced as though he had yelled it.

'I am not upset.’ His words were so forced that Damian almost looked remorseful after he had said them.

'Right.’ Dick did not believe him for even a second. 'You’re all suited up, but you’re back too soon. Don’t tell me you left the big Bat hanging?’

Damian shrugged, but he did not seem too eager to grace him with a reply.

'Ah.’ Dick said ruefully. He regretfully closed the message-board he had been staring at for a good twenty minutes by now. 'I guess I expected it to be difficult to just approach him out of nowhere.’

Damian glared at him. ‘You should come with me.’

Dick sighed and dropped the tablet on the table. They have had this conversation many times before, but Damian refused to accept what he was being told. ‘I won’t. It will only be worse for everyone if I’m there.’

‘No, it won’t,’ Damian mocked with a biting snarl to his tone. The League of Assassins’ uniform looked weird on him, Dick had always thought that, but when he was angry it always seemed to fit him a little bit more. The thought caused a shiver to run down his spine. He should set up the heating with whatever utility company in Gotham that had any credibility. He was not eager to leave this city, no matter how well he knew he had to disappear as soon as possible. ‘It would be better.’ Damian insisted as if his words alone would make it so.

Dick just shook his head, determined to drop the subject for another day. ‘If you’re not meeting him tonight then get yourself to bed. I’m taking you somewhere tomorrow.’

‘For as often as you tell me to face my fears, you sure seem to be avoiding yours.’

Dick leaned back and opted to stare at the ceiling because he knew that Damian could see the hurt in his eyes if he really let the kid have a good look. He did not want to talk about this with Damian. Preferably never. It was less unrealistic to wait until Damian was an adult, but he knew it was wishful thinking in the end.

Damian did not let himself be brushed off that easily. ‘You said you wanted me to meet Batman.’

That was not entirely true, but Dick allowed Damian to spin the tale for now.

‘And now that we are here, you refuse to leave the apartment.’ Damian raised his arms in exasperation, a childish move he never allowed himself to indulge in with anyone aside from Dick. He did not think Damian did it consciously, let alone knew just how fond Dick was of it.

‘I don’t know what else you want to hear from me.’

And that’s where it all came down to. Damian did not understand what was going on, mostly because neither Dick nor Talia saw it fit to inform him. 

When Dick stubbornly did not elaborate further, Damian growled in frustration before stomping off to his room. For good measure, he slammed the door shut with a bang loud enough to wake up any other tenants in the building. Dick hoped that they all knew what it was like to live with a young, barely-teenager in the house and that they would be forgiving to the odd crash of something breaking every now and again.

He grimaced at his tablet like it was the device’s fault all this was happening to them now. It mockingly remained where it was, giving no explanation whatsoever.

Dick walked to the window and activated the additional security alarms that Damian did not know the existence of. Damian was fully aware of the tripwires that would set off a crossbow aimed for the ankles. He did not know about the explosives that were meant to blast someone across the street and preferably cause enough damage to the intruder for Dick to pick Damian up and run away out of Gotham.

It was a trap laid specifically for Talia. Dick hoped beyond reason that she would keep her promise and not come after them, but he was not taking any chances.

His tablet lit up but instead of checking his messages, Dick walked over to the kitchen and the bottle of wine that he kept inside the fridge. There had been no electricity because of a power surge caused by a masked villain ever since he and Damian moved in, so the kid had no reason to look inside the appliance. He poured himself a glass and went back to stand by the window. The tablet displayed three more messages and Dick was determined to ignore them all for at least a few more minutes.

He was more enamoured with the giant bat-symbol that lit up in the smog-filled clouds of the city. In the darkness of the night, the light was as bright as it ever has been in Dick’s memories of a bygone time. He just knew that Damian was looking outside just like Dick was, undoubtedly having complicated emotions swirling in his too young of a mind when seeing the symbol.

It was times like these that Dick could bring himself to hate Talia, but never for long and never with full conviction. Above all, he felt like crying right there where he stood, but he effortlessly distracted himself by taking an elegant and conservative sip of wine. Practice did make perfect, and he had had a lot of practice over the years.

It had taken him years to get to this point where he was now, and all of a sudden he had no idea what he wanted to do anymore aside from maintaining the little ground he gained in this ongoing battle between himself and everyone else. Keep Damian save. If he wanted to, allow Damian and Bruce to meet up. Fend Talia off for as long as he could without alienating Damian, which would prove to be harder than he could ever hope.

He wiped his hand over his face with a shaky breath when the bat-symbol shut off and the night was dark once more. Batman was off again to save the city. He did not want to imagine what Damian was daydreaming about right now. What kind of man the kid was hoping Batman was.

The only thing Dick knew for certain was that Damian was unsure enough of the man behind the mask to avoid him, despite having declared that he wanted to meet him. It was the only reason Dick had gotten Talia to accept that Damian was coming with him for the time being, even if Damian did not seem to realise it exactly.

Dick hated playing these games behind Damian’s back, even though he had gotten to be exceptionally good at them. Regretfully so.

He finished his glass with a final chug. He could almost hear Talia berate him for it in the back of his mind. He could almost picture her bemused smirk as clearly as if she stood in front of him right now.

He grabbed for the tablet and sent a quick confirmation that he would be there tomorrow before he could talk himself out of it. He smiled down at the reply he got, could see the barely contained excitement within the perfectly respectable vocabulary. It was endearing and he could see himself growing attached.

Dick turned the lights off and entered his own room, which was cold and bare with only the essentials he brought in a single bag. He just hoped Damian would share his sentiments or all his efforts would be for nothing.

He tried to sleep but ended up staring at the ceiling until the first rays of sunlight peeked underneath the moth-eaten curtains. Whatever fleeting hopes he had before going to Gotham had long since faded away, and he had the miserable thought that all his good intentions were about to blow up in his face.


End file.
